The present disclosure herein relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to image sensors.
An image sensor is a device that converts optical images into electrical signals. With increased development of the computer and communications industries, there may be an increased demand for high performance image sensors that may be used for capturing images in a variety of applications such as digital cameras, camcorders, personal communication systems (PCS's), gaming machines, security cameras, micro-cameras for medical applications, and/or robots.
Image sensors may include complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors and charge coupled devices (CCDs). CMOS image sensors operate with a simple driving manner/way and may be integrated with signal processing circuits on a single chip, thus enabling products that include the CMOS image sensors to be scaled down. In addition, CMOS image sensors may operate with relatively low power consumption. Thus, CMOS image sensors are applicable to portable electronic devices. Furthermore, CMOS image sensors may be fabricated using CMOS fabrication techniques, which may reduce manufacturing costs. Moreover, CMOS image sensors may provide high resolution images. Accordingly, the use of CMOS image sensors has increased.